


Two Years Later

by afinemess



Series: 8 Days [2]
Category: The Nanny
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 13:39:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3383609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinemess/pseuds/afinemess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sequel to "8 Days" exploring what happens when the family, including Niles and CC, return to the beach house in the Hamptons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I.

CC pushed open the wrought-iron door and entered the Sheffield mansion, automatically glancing around and, once she didn't see anyone—not that she'd been looking for anyone in particular—she hung her lightweight jacket in the entryway closet. The sumptuous decorations, slightly overdone in CC's opinion when she paused to give it her opinion, were ignored by the blonde socialite as she ambled through the foyer and living room to enter the office.

In hindsight, CC should have known that Maxwell sitting up straight and giving her a winning smile as soon as she entered the office was a bad omen. He'd never ignored her, per se, but her presence never occupied much of her business partner's attention for longer than a passing greeting.

As it was with the slightly oblivious Babcock, she merely returned Maxwell's smile and propped her leather bag against the loveseat on the floor. She moved immediately to the file cabinet and began rifling through it to find an actor's file.

"How are you today, CC?" Maxwell asked.

CC tugged the file folder out of the drawer and shut the drawer with her shoulder, the resounding clang filling the office. She turned to her business partner, puzzled. While his strange behavior when she'd first entered the office had slid by her notice, she could not ignore this. Any other person may have been able to get away with the nonchalant attempt to start a conversation, but not Maxwell Sheffield and not to CC Babcock.

"What is it?" she asked, sitting down gracefully on the loveseat and setting the folder in her lap.

"What do you mean?" asked Maxwell, looking slightly alarmed at how quickly his business associate had cottoned on to him.

For a few moments, CC allowed herself to feel abundantly relieved that Maxwell had never given in to her halfhearted attempts at his attention. Then she replied, "You either want something from me or you want me to do something for you."

"She still won't give up, sir," came Niles' voice from the entryway as he bustled in with a tray of tea.

"What?" Maxwell asked his butler confusedly, and it was only out of respect borne from years of knowing him that CC didn't roll her eyes at Maxwell's stupidity.

Most would have been shocked and, indeed, most _were_ when they learned that CC never truly had feelings for Maxwell. She'd wondered, years ago, but only in the fleeting way that most women wondered about the men in their lives. Maxwell had been an idea and represented all CC should have wanted and yet didn't. Her mother would have loved him as a son-in-law and as such, CC knew that she would have grown to hate him. Maxwell had been perfect for her soft-spoken friend Sara, and CC suspected that it was only out of protectiveness of her closest friend's memory that CC had balked against the thought of Nanny Fine for so long. She'd seemed such a poor replacement.

Regardless, in times like these, CC knew that she never could have tolerated Maxwell. He was not intellectually lacking but there was an obtuseness in him that she found unattractive. She needed someone with more spark, more of an edge, someone who could throw her off balance and reel her back in.

As she stood to replace the actor's file, Niles turned to exit the office once more. The two walked into each other, the rim of the serving tray knocking into CC's elbow. Her gray pencil skirt prohibited much movement from her legs and she was bumped off balance. Just as her brain flashed her an image of her skull cracking into the side of the filing cabinet, Niles' strong arm swung around and caught her around her waist, pulling her back onto her feet.

CC merely glared at Niles and continued walking proudly to the filing cabinet. As she pulled open the drawer and ignored the swoop in her stomach as Niles' arm had been wrapped around her, she wondered if she'd ever find exactly what she was looking for in a man.

Maxwell had resumed looking over the set list, apparently waiting until CC had taken her seat again before attempting conversation. "As much as I regret you believing I'd only want something from you if I were trying to start a conversation, this time, I do have a favor to ask of you."

CC bit back a petulant " _Told you so_ " remark and nodded as though allowing him to continue.

"Well, as you know, it's nearly summer," Maxwell began. "And I can't help remembering how much fun we had in Sagaponack two years ago…"

Ever the stoic socialite, CC gave no outward appearance that Maxwell mentioning their vacation had any effect on her. Those looking closely, however, would notice that CC's slim fingers had slightly gripped the edge of another file folder she'd retrieved from the cabinet and her eyes narrowed nearly imperceptibly.

But CC couldn't blame Maxwell. He didn't know. Surprisingly enough, Fran had never mentioned what she knew of their vacation in the Hamptons again, not to Niles, CC, or anyone else. When they'd first returned from the trip, CC had entertained thoughts of questioning Fran's motives of keeping it a secret, but that had gone against her practice of outwardly pretending as though the entire thing had never happened. Healthy it wasn't, but it was the only way she could face Niles everyday and it seemed it was the only way he could face her as well.

"And?" CC asked, forcing herself out of her reverie.

"Well, I was thinking of surprising Fran with a little trip," Maxwell said. "There isn't much we can do now that everything is set with our new production and they're just rehearsing everyday. There are scripts to read, of course, but I don't see the harm in taking a few days off to relax at the beach."

"Are you asking if you can use our beach house?" asked CC. Max nodded. "I'll call Father. I'm sure he won't mind if you and Nanny Fine and the kids stay for a few days, if no one else is renting out the rooms right now."

"CC, I think you've misunderstood me. I'd like for you to come as well," Max told her kindly.

"Oh, no, Maxwell, I couldn't."

"Why not?"

This time, CC couldn't blame Maxwell's inherent thick headedness, though she often wondered how dull people were for never noticing what went on between the butler and the blonde.

"You know I like to supervise the rehearsals from time to time," CC said. "And…you and the wife should have some vacation time alone."

"Now, CC, the director is more than capable of handling the rehearsals. You deserve a vacation, too. And truth be told, it wouldn't feel right to use your beach house without you there."

"It's my father's," CC said weakly, knowing that Maxwell would likely take it as a personal insult if CC didn't accompany them.

"It's your family's," Maxwell corrected. "No, CC, if we are to use your beach house, I insist you come along. Imagine the seafood dinners Niles can make again!"

CC's stomach clenched uncomfortably at the thought of being in that house, on that beach, with him again. It had been strangely easy to return to the daily grind of her life in New York: show up to work, trade insults with the butler, go home, repeat. The familiar surroundings made it easy to fall into a routine dance with him again and though sometimes they faltered in the movements—he'd glance at her too long, she'd make one too many trips to the kitchen during the day—ultimately the dual sidestepping of their increasingly complicated relationship remained their customary movement.

And it wasn't as though he could read her mind and follow where it wandered during particularly boring days on the job. He couldn't venture into her dreams and see where her subconscious resided. He couldn't know how difficult it was for her to decipher her emotions and how easy she found it to pack it all away in a neat compartment in her brain. It was reassuring thoughts like these that allowed CC Babcock to go about her everyday and pretend that things never fazed her.

"Let me call my father to see when it's available," CC said with a sigh.

* * *

Niles stood sentry in the kitchen that day, as he usually did, even when he had nothing to cook or clean in the place. Most of the family congregated in the area and Niles found something comforting in the room. The simplicity of the decorations, compared to the lavish look of the rest of the house, made him feel at home in a place that was otherwise clearly not his.

That, and his other usual hangout, the office, was no longer the barb-trading place it once was.

While he had been able to cast aside his memories of what had happened (during the daylight hours, at least), he had not been able to eschew the guilt or longing they created. He was able to be in CC's presence for longer now than when they'd first arrived back in Manhattan, but he was only able to throw a few insults or pranks in her direction before he found it necessary to be alone and find something else to occupy his time.

Try as he might, he couldn't prevent the self-flogging his conscience subjected him to occasionally. He'd revisited his and CC's conversation in her penthouse innumerable times, each time arriving at the conclusion that he'd royally screwed up any chance they might have had. CC Babcock was an impenetrable fortress of a woman, and she'd allowed him entry, for lack of a better term, and he'd messed it up. Now, he feared, the gates were up, the guards stood watch, and CC was the ice queen protected by self-built walls once more.

And yet Niles couldn't help a small flare of hope whenever he'd remembered her words: " _Maybe someday, but…not right now_." Even as he thought it, however, Niles knew how pathetic he seemed, waiting for a woman who might never again give him the chance he didn't even fully deserve.

The door swung open and Niles looked over hopefully, his face falling slightly when he saw it was Fran. While he found it difficult sometimes to be in CC's presence, he found it was easier when she initiated it by visiting the kitchen during the day. The woman could only drink so many bottles of water per day, though, and so their time together was disappointingly limited.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Sheffield," Niles greeted.

"Hiya, Niles," Fran said with a smile. "Has Max told you about the vacation plans?"

At "vacation," Niles' ears perked up in much the same manner as Chester's when someone mentioned going for a walk. Visions of unfettered access to the television, snifters of brandy, and complete silence in the manse danced around his head.

"No, Mrs. Sheffield. Where are you going?" Niles asked, hoping for a ten-day cruise or a two-week excursion in Fiji.

"Ya mean _we_ ," Fran corrected. She glanced at him, almost curiously, before plucking a grape from the bowl on the counter. "We're going to the Hamptons to stay in Miss Babcock's beach house again next week."

Television and hard liquor were replaced by sunsets over the ocean and Miss Babcock in a bikini while Niles smiled to himself. Seemed to be a fair trade, to him.


	2. Chapter 2

II.

A week later, CC stood on the sidewalk outside of her building, looking rather conspicuous with a bulky suitcase, a slouchy shoulder bag, big sunglasses, and a large floppy hat slightly obscuring her vision. A soft spring breeze ruffled the rim of her hat gently as she waited for the limousine to pick her up.

Initially CC had suggested she drive herself to the Hamptons, remembering the awkward experience of sitting silent in the passenger's seat two years ago. Maxwell had unequivocally denied her request, asserting that traveling together added to "the experience." Tired of arguing, CC had relented and after all, as she silently told herself, she didn't altogether mind the experience of spending time with them outside of a work context.

The limo finally slowed to a halt, after which Niles climbed out and dutifully grabbed CC's suitcase.

"You took your time," she commented.

"Just wanted to give you some more time to pack your tarp. Unless you went with a two-piece this year," Niles responded roguishly.

CC couldn't figure out a way to respond to Niles' tarp insult without acknowledging his mention of her bikini, and so she slung her bag over her shoulder and followed him toward the limo, finally responding, "I guess you'll have to wait for the beach to find out."

She thought she saw him smile before the trunk popped up and hid his face from her view. Pulling open the door, CC saw Fran, Max, and Grace sitting in the backseat while Brighton lounged in the seat on the side. With a sigh, she saw that she would be sitting with her back near Niles though, thankfully, the limo was fully equipped with vodka.

"Where's the big one?" CC asked the boy, as Fran and Max were busy convincing Grace she'd be fine on the three-hour drive to Sagaponack.

Brighton looked up from his cell phone, surprised CC was talking to him. "She stayed behind with Michael."

CC nodded and felt, rather than saw, Niles slide back into the driver's seat. A whiff of his scent reached her nostrils and for once felt she had something in common with Grace: a slightly uneasy stomach.

"Ready?" Niles asked the car at large. CC let everyone else respond while she sank back into the seat. Hearing a disconcerting chuckle in her ear, CC felt the car lurch forward into traffic, causing her to topple over and sprawl on the floor of the limo, faceplanting onto Fran's pedicured toes.

"Careful, old man," Max called cheerfully from his seat.

"So sorry, sir, I'd forgotten how touchy this vehicle is," Niles said back apologetically.

"Quite all right," Maxwell replied.

CC sat up with her hair covering half her face and her hands splayed on the floor, trying to get her bearings. Niles eyed her in the rearview mirror, realizing that his little prank had afforded him an excellent view of her rear. When he caught Fran looking at him knowingly, however, Niles cleared his throat and sped up carefully, his full attention on the road.

CC crouched back to her seat and took her hat from Fran, who held it out for her with a sympathetic glance. Still reeling from Maxwell actually believing it was an accident, CC sat back against her seat once more and mused that she'd rather have Niles pull pranks on her during this vacation…it made it much easier to not think about what had happened the last time she was alone with him on the beach.

* * *

The family entered the beach house, receiving a pleasant breeze from the windows that had been thrown open throughout the house. CC wondered who had opened the windows, as well as who had placed fresh lilies on the dining room table, until she found a note on the table next to the front door explaining that her father had arranged all of this for "his kitten and her business partner's family." The note also mentioned that he'd arranged to have the fridge and pantry restocked, a fact that caused Niles to whoop in glee and take off up the stairs to claim his own bedroom.

Loudly proclaiming that he would not be rooming with anyone else, Brighton followed Niles up the stairs. Maxwell offered to help Grace, who still looked queasy, get settled in her room while Fran told her husband's retreating back that she'd set up their room.

"Miss Babcock, I know we don't talk about this," Fran said as quietly as her adenoids would allow. "And I won't start now. But I hope you're ok with…this. The vacation."

CC turned to Fran with a wan smile. "Nanny Fine, I'm fine." Knowing Fran didn't believe her and not blaming her one bit, CC grabbed her suitcase and began wheeling it toward the staircase in the living room, knowing it led straight to her room.

Fran watched CC wrestle her suitcase up the stairs with a strange look on her face. She'd surprised herself throughout the past two years by resolutely refusing to tell anyone, even Val, what she knew had happened in Sagaponack on a starry Friday evening two years ago.

Truthfully, Fran wasn't sure in the beginning why she hadn't told anyone, but she had a vague sense that what she'd originally thought was the juiciest gossip ever wasn't actually. She'd taken some time in the past two years to observe Niles and CC, discovering what no one else had: the warmth in CC's smile when she'd turn away after Niles would pull off a particularly witty insult; the quiet way in which Niles would ensure that CC was taken care of by bringing her a plate when she worked through lunch or always having cold water bottles in the fridge; but mostly, Fran noticed how much attention the two paid to each other. It was usually Niles who brought up Miss Babcock if she weren't around, almost as though to honor her memory with a random insult, and CC never missed a chance to make a joke at the butler's expense, even if he were busy elsewhere in the house.

It wasn't until Fran saw the way they both acted when CC had a boyfriend that she knew, for sure, how they felt about each other. Aside from the painfully obvious comparison between Niles and Collin, Fran saw how CC tried to rub it in his face to see if a spark of jealousy lit up his eyes. Ultimately CC would leave the room too early, for Fran stuck around longer and saw the way Niles' jaw tightened and how he pouted when she'd leave to have dinner with him.

During that time, Fran knew she was right not to cheapen Niles and CC's experience by revealing their secret to everyone. They were special, in the same way she felt that she and Max were special, and she knew that the added obstacles of CC's stubbornness, Niles' stupidity, and their shared vulnerability made for a precarious situation in which one wrong move could shatter the entirety of their chances.

Fran still also struggled with whose side she landed on. She knew it was a childish way of looking at it, but her natural obligation to Niles due to their close friendship conflicted with her tendency to feel for Miss Babcock's insecure heart. CC had never been overly friendly with Fran through the years, it was true, but Fran found it difficult to be around a person for six years and not care for them at all, whether or not CC felt the same for her. The former nanny also couldn't shake the image of CC Babcock's eyes shining with tears while she, more or less, claimed to not understand why Niles had left her that night.

Regardless of the past, Fran took it as her personal mission to guarantee everyone else the same happiness she shared with Maxwell. And so Fran swore to herself to not get involved and meddle with their affairs, unless, of course, Niles and CC weren't doing it right, in which case Fran vowed to take over and help her friends.


	3. Chapter 3

III.

As CC tried to open her luggage, she began to consider that perhaps this vacation was, after all, a good idea. While she knew her relationship with Niles might never be adequately explained, if an explanation were even possible, she thought that maybe she could get some closure over the whole ordeal.

For as the time had passed, CC found that she had more questions than answers when it came to her encounter, as it were, with Niles. They'd had one conversation in her penthouse and the only satisfaction from that was the short kiss they'd shared at the tail end of it. What had Niles said? That he was scared? CC had scoffed at the idea; at the very least because he was such an unflappable person, but also because she too had been scared, but she hadn't scampered in the middle of the night.

Then, of course, he'd said that he hadn't wanted to feel that way about CC at all, which led her to wonder if he'd been successful at stopping or if he'd ever truly started.

Most confusing of all, though, was when he'd told her that he hadn't wanted to ruin anything. CC found this particularly hard to believe, considering the mere fact that he'd left her that night _had_ ruined everything. Only once had she allowed her mind to conceptualize what might have happened if he hadn't left: how it would have felt to wake up next to him, what he might have said, if they would have decided to start round two…

In letting herself wonder what might have been, however, CC had experienced a maelstrom of emotions ranging from elation to arousal and finally ending with regret, that most difficult of emotions. CC knew how pointless it was to feel remorseful that the situation had happened like it did, as there was nothing to do but live with the consequences of it, but she couldn't stop herself from wishing he had just stayed with her.

As her mind often did, it landed on Niles, and this was usually the point at night when CC would roll over in bed, stare at the ceiling, and wonder if he regretted leaving as much as she regretted his decision to. Despite how often her mind thought this, CC knew she would never, ever ask him. She feared both answers and so would never ask the probing question.

Were anyone able to read her mind, they might think that CC had forgiven Niles. She certainly thought about him often enough, regardless what she told herself to appease her hollow heart. But CC knew, as did Niles, somehow, that she would never forget the confusion and pain of waking up in an empty bed after the experience they had shared, nor could she forget the hurt of approaching him before breakfast the following day only to be ignored in favor of the pancakes he was preparing.

As a woman who continuously hid her emotions, CC felt it was a cardinal sin to hurt that much. If her feelings for Niles had surprised her, it was nothing compared to how surprised she was that his actions had hurt her so much. Once CC got over the initial shock, she had promised herself to never let him have the capability to hurt her again.

Though the best laid plans often go awry, CC thought grimly that she'd been successful enough in the last two years that this was one plan she could carry to her grave, and she felt that it would be much easier to fully implement this plan once she had some firm answers from him.

And anyway, CC thought, it wasn't as though she thought of him _that_ much.

It was with this profound misconception that CC found herself struggling to open her suitcase. The zipper was firmly caught on something inside, but CC thought that if she continued tugging at it, surely it would open.

And she was actually right about one thing, for she gave a hearty tug, felt the clasp break away from the suitcase, swore extremely loudly, and fell backwards onto the bed.

The thud of the suitcase against the wood floor and CC's voice screeching things that would make a sailor blush caused Niles to rush into the room, halting right at the foot of CC's bed.

"Are you all right?" Niles asked concernedly.

It took both of them a few seconds to register that Niles stood between her sprawled legs as she lay flat on the bed, her chest heaving from the effort. Forbidden thoughts flew into both of their minds and they simultaneously blushed though, they both realized later, neither made an effort to move right away.

Finally, CC scooted off the bed and went to stand next to her luggage. "I'm fine. My suitcase has seen better days, though." She held out the offending piece, and Niles reached forward and—intentionally?—grazed her hand as he took it from her.

"It's just the hook that slides the zipper up and down," he told her, inspecting the piece closely. "If I can find some pliers, I'll be able to bend it back into place."

"Well, aren't you the helpful little butler," CC remarked, crossing her arms.

"There's no rule that I have to help you with anything, witch," Niles replied, tossing the bent piece of metal back to her.

"Which makes sense, considering you've never helped me with anything before."

"Oh, I can think of a problem or two I've solved," Niles shot back, exiting her room before he could see her shocked face. It was the closest they'd come to mentioning their night, and CC was sure he'd been referring to that.

 _And he_ did _help quite a bit that night_ , CC thought grudgingly.

Running her hands through her hair as though her fingers could find and remove any offending thoughts regarding the butler, CC peeled open her suitcase and began putting her things in the empty drawers.

* * *

The family had left early enough in the day to afford themselves a few hours of sunshine in the afternoon, and so the entire clan, Babcock and butler included, gathered in the living room before embarking onto the beach.

The group of six presented an ironic sight indeed when they clustered around the sliding glass doors leading to the deck that was currently being deluged with fat droplets of rain. Fran squeezed closer to the door, the hot pink tube wrapped around her waist squealing unpleasantly against CC's sand-proof beach bag. The bright colors of their beach towels and bathing suits clashed against the iron gray of both the sky and the ocean.

"Nice job, Babcock," Niles said over the heads of Grace and Brighton between them.

"Yes, Niles, I made it rain so that I wouldn't have to suffer through seeing you in your swim trunks," CC replied wryly.

 _Damn_ , Niles mouthed. It wasn't often that CC stole his insults, the most current one being the villagers performing a rain dance to avoid seeing CC in her bikini, but he couldn't help feel a small bubble of pride at his foe's intellect.

Brighton heaved a sigh of relief as their verbal battle died away instantly; he may have been nearing eighteen, but that didn't make CC any less scary when she fought with Niles. He glanced at his little sister who, strangely enough, had a private smile on her face. When she caught the inquisitive eye of her brother, she merely shook her head as though to dispel any questions.

"Well, we'll just have to stay inside then!" Maxwell announced unnecessarily. "What shall we do?"

"What _is_ there to do?" Brighton asked. "It's a beach house. Its sole purpose is to give people a place to eat and sleep before they go back on the beach."

"We'll find something to do!" Fran said brightly, her characteristic optimism returning after a slight deflation at the sight of the rain. "Maybe there are some board games around here…" Fran broke off at CC's look.

"Come on, Mrs. Sheffield, _Babcocks_ don't play board games," Niles said airily, injecting an air of disdain in his nemesis' last name.

"I only meant my father keeps this house empty to afford guests as much storage space as possible," CC replied defensively. "And I really like board games, thank you."

"A fondness developed, no doubt, by your lonely Friday nights during your childhood and all the way up through spinsterhood," Niles retorted seamlessly.

"So first my family is too good for board games, and now I'm the Scrabble Queen because I've never had friends? Your insults don't work if you don't maintain some semblance of continuity," CC replied in a bored voice.

"You'll notice that _I_ didn't mention that she has no friends," Niles said conspiratorially to the group, who had been watching in silence as the two went back and forth, "but if the size 13 shoe fits…"

"What would you know about big feet, Ajax? Brighton had bigger feet than you when he was three," Brighton looked up, shocked that she knew his name, "and you _know_ what they say about small feet."

"He wears small shoes?" Fran guessed, giggling at her own lame joke. The sparring duo ignored her, their eyes and attention only on each other.

"Well I can only imagine that in a woman, shoe size is proportional to butt size," Niles returned, gesturing toward her behind. "Exhibit A."

"Niles, you're so painfully boring," CC said in her best bored-and-haughty-socialite voice, perfected years earlier in boarding school. "Is this how you are with all women? If so, it makes sense why you're all alone."

"Now, Miss Babcock, I wouldn't compare the way I treat you with the way I treat _women_ ," Niles replied. "With you, it's like you're one of the guys."

"If I'm _one of the guys_ , servant, I must question why you're always remarking about my butt," CC shot back. "Though you do work closely with musical theatre, meaning you scrub the floors of the man who produces it, so I suppose it makes sense."

"And yet your constant presence around those types of men doesn't explain why you're alone," Niles said, his ire increasing with his arousal. Who needed magazines like the kinds under Brighton's bed when he had Babcock? "Tell me, why did Collin dump you, again?"

CC laughed wickedly, the sound going straight from Niles' ears to his pelvic region. His own reaction wasn't helped by the telling brightness in CC's eyes and the small patches of pink in her cheeks. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know."

"I would, so I can send him a congratulatory card. I found the most wonderful one the other day. It was a card about a man finishing his prison sentence, yes, but I'm sure Collin would understand the metaphor," Niles shot back, knowing he'd need to leave the room soon.

CC took a quick, deep breath, trying to stop herself from panting slightly. "Why don't you keep that for yourself as a reminder that you'll never escape your menial slot in life?"

"All right," Maxwell said loudly before they could continue. Even he could feel the air crackle with their intensity and didn't want his youngest daughter to be negatively influenced by what could soon turn into an inappropriate conversation.

Niles and CC both turned to Maxwell with effort, as though pulling themselves from a thick fog. It was with some apparent surprise that Niles and CC noticed everyone else still standing near the door. Simultaneously, they both set off in different directions, CC toward the staircase muttering about getting a cigarette and Niles toward the kitchen grumbling about needing a nosh.

* * *

When CC had recovered (from what she told herself was pure annoyance), she trotted down the stairs and into the living room, spotting the two bored teenagers on one couch and Maxwell seated at the other. She ignored Niles, who appeared to be investigating the available foods in the kitchen, and turned instead to the group in the living room.

"Where's—" CC began.

"Look what I have!" Fran exclaimed from the other staircase, hopping through the wide, open floor plan and landing next to her husband on the couch. "I brought movies!"

"Great!" Grace said, sitting up interestedly.

"Good thinking, sweetheart," Max said, giving his wife an appreciative peck on the temple.

"Well, ever since my disaster of a trip with Val a few years ago, I always prepare myself in case of vacation emergencies," Fran said. She held up several VHS tapes, each picturing Barbra Streisand singing on the covers.

CC cocked up an eyebrow while Brighton made a quickly concealed sound of disgust.

Maxwell asked delicately, "Those sound lovely, darling, but…ah…did you happen to bring anything else with you?"

"No board games," she said, looking at CC kindly, "but I brought a book of Barbra trivia and a Barbra puzzle."

As the family ultimately decided on _Funny Girl_ , and Niles continued puttering away in the kitchen, CC traipsed back upstairs and decided to get some work done.

Sitting down at the blonde wood desk and slipping on her sleek, black-framed glasses, CC pulled a heavy stack of scripts from the bottom of her suitcase and uncapped her ubiquitous red pen.

"Miss Babcock?" asked a tentative voice from the doorway.

CC glanced over her shoulder from the corner of her room, seeing Grace standing at the threshold to her room. "Hello, little one."

"Hi," Grace said uncertainly, still leaning against the doorframe uncomfortably.

"You can come in," CC offered. "Not enjoying the _Yentl_ Love Fest?"

"Not exactly. Fran made me watch those years ago," Grace explained, fully entering the room and perching nervously on the edge of her bed. "What are you doing?"

"Reading through possible scripts," CC said. "Want to help?"

"Really?" Grace smiled, scooting closer to CC.

"Sure, it's not that hard," CC replied. "They already made it through the first round of throw-outs, meaning they've got some potential." CC split her stack in half and handed Grace five scripts along with another red pen.

"Do you want me to just read them?" Grace asked.

"Read them, make notes, the usual," CC said dismissively.

Proud that CC thought her opinion was of at least some value, Grace looked down at the first script in her lap. "What sort of notes?"

"Things you like, things you don't, things that are so mind-numbingly stupid that you can't believe they even occurred to someone," CC muttered as she forcefully scratched out an entire monologue. "The most important thing is whether or not this could happen on a stage. Too many people submit their failed movie scripts and think that Broadway is some sort of step below Hollywood, so keep that in mind, too."

Grace grinned and brought her legs up, Indian-style, on the bed, propping the script on one knee and supporting her elbow on the other. She made it halfway through the script, filling nearly every page with her small, neat handwriting before venturing carefully, for she wasn't sure if Miss Babcock would mind the interruption, "This is actually sort of fun."

CC smiled a little blandly at her, looking up from the script spread open on her legs, which she'd crossed on top of the desk corner. "I thought so, too, before I had to start doing this sixty times per week."

"I never see my dad doing this," Grace said with a frown of concentration as she circled a conversation and used an arrow to indicate it should have happened earlier in the scene.

CC laughed, telling her, "Well, after your father passed on some of the highest-grossing plays of all time, we decided to leave the scripts to me."

Grace thought back to the increased success of Sheffield-Babcock Productions over the years and looked admiringly at the blonde producer. "I feel like that was for the best."

CC nodded inattentively, gnawing the pen cap between her teeth.

"Miss Grace?" Niles' voice called out from down the hallway.

"I'm in here," Grace called back, flipping to another page.

Niles peered confusedly into CC's room, spotting the two women poring over scripts. "Child slave labor now, Babcock? What won't you sink to?"

CC looked up at him over her glasses. "Apparently, I'll sink to some pretty low levels."

"It's not slave labor, Niles," Grace interjected before they began another fracas. "I'm having fun."

"Either way, dinner is ready," Niles said. "You should have some before it gets cold."

Grace sighed, slid her pen in the script to mark her place, and left the room to join her family for dinner.

"Still trying to get at Mr. Sheffield through his children? Shameful, CaCa, he's married now," Niles told her.

CC leaned back across her chair to pull the script Grace had been reading towards her. "I remember, Niles, I was at the wedding." She read through Grace's notes on the first few pages and couldn't hide the impressed look that swept her features.

"Still, showing a false interest in her—" Niles began.

"She's a smart kid, Niles," CC cut across him, some of her attention still on the insightful notations. "She's certainly got more intuition than her father does."

"She takes after Sara in that way," Niles said softly, and the two shared similar looks of momentary sadness as they remembered their old friend. The moment passed, and CC set the script back on her bed, careful to keep it marked where Grace had left off. She stood and slid her glasses off, gently rubbing the bridge of her nose to remove the marks.

"You're certainly full of surprises," Niles told her, still surprised at seeing CC so friendly with Grace.

She stopped in front of him in the doorway with a strange look on her face. "At least you can't accuse me of being boring." With that, she swept past him and down the staircase. Nodding in unseen agreement, Niles followed her.


	4. Chapter 4

IV.

Later that evening, as Grace retreated to her own room to read through the remaining scripts and Fran forced Max and Brighton to sit through _Hello, Dolly!_ , Niles decided to wander through the beach house, never having properly done so before. The wide expanse of open space on the first floor left little to be explored, so Niles retreated to the second floor.

He passed CC's room at a slower pace, casually glancing in as he'd learned to successfully do in front of Fran's room in years past. Disappointingly enough, CC was not in the middle of changing her clothes, nor was she in her room at all, though as Niles reminded himself, she was unlike Fran in that she seldom took the opportunity to flaunt her body.

 _Pity_ , a loathed voice in Niles' head told him. He ignored that voice, as he so often did, and continued traipsing down the hall. Walking clear to the other side of the house, Niles found the remaining four bedrooms clustered there, set in a pentagonal shape of flooring that allowed the bedrooms to continue spaciously along past their doorways.

Spinning around, Niles ventured back into the hallways in the middle of the house, admiring the nooks and storage spaces he found there. Here and there along the walls were niches with various pieces of artwork, statuary, and even some cozy chairs set in them. It wasn't until he was in the dead middle of the house that Niles heard the loud drumming of rain that sounded closer than it ought to. He approached a door, hoping that there wasn't something wrong with the ceiling in what he assumed was a closet, and pulled it open. A narrow staircase met his vision and the rain spatters sounded closer than ever.

Curiosity piqued, Niles ascended the steps and found himself in a long room similar to the solarium in the Sheffield household. The staircase opened in the center of the room so that Niles' head appeared comically a few inches above the floor. The ceiling in this room was comprised entirely of glass, which slanted down on either end of the room to afford visitors with a beautiful view of the ocean on one side and sweeping lawns and trees on the other.

Niles supposed that the room was a sight to see when it was sunny, although it possessed a sort of haunting beauty in the rainy semidarkness that he usually found akin to the profound sadness in CC's eyes.

Speaking of, Niles found the occupier of his thoughts currently occupying a chaise lounge facing the ocean. A script sat ignored in her lap and her favorite red pen had slipped onto the floor next to the lounger.

Not wishing to startle her, Niles took heavy steps up the remainder of the staircase so that by the time he turned around, CC had glanced over to see who had joined her. She said nothing as Niles walked to her side of the solarium and sat down in the lounge opposite her. They spent several minutes in content silence, watching the waves crash and lightning split the sky brilliantly.

"At least this vacation will be better than last time," CC ventured, her voice strangely echoed in the room of wood and glass.

"What do you mean by that?"

"That you don't have to share a room with a boy this time," CC explained quickly, before his mind could run where she knew it had already started galloping.

"I don't recall having plans to room with you," Niles responded in mock confusion.

"You should be so lucky," CC said warningly.

Uncharacteristically, Niles fell silent for a few moments before responding quietly, "I know."

A loud clap of thunder sounded overhead, magnified in the nearly empty room and rendering the two occupants silent. In the heavy silence that loomed after, CC had managed to convince herself that Niles had said nothing of the sort and Niles appeared to lose his momentary boldness.

Minutes later, however, Niles pivoted to face her and began, "Miss Babcock…"

"No."

"No?" Niles repeated. "No to what?"

"No to the conversation you were about to start," CC said.

"You don't even know what I was about to say."

CC gave him a withering look but instead of feeling deflated, Niles felt his chest puffing up in righteous anger.

"Why do _you_ get to decide the topics of our conversation?" Niles asked heatedly. "Every time I want to say something—"

"Excuse me, every time?" CC repeated, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the chaise so that she was facing him as well. "Just how many actual conversations do we have?"

"You know bloody well what I'm talking about," Niles said, standing up as though his anger prevented him from being able to sit still any longer.

" _I_ get to decide because of what _you_ did," CC responded loudly. If rain had not continued to hammer down relentlessly upon the roof, CC would never have dared speak so loudly with the Sheffields so close.

Niles balled his hands into fists. He'd made a mistake, yes, but he was quite frankly tired of feeling guilty and abiding by CC's ridiculous rules that she mandate where and when. Niles' memory zoomed back to the discussion in her penthouse and he recalled that even then, she had broken off any conversation by simply saying "no."

"I know what I did, Babcock, but it was two years ago!" Niles exclaimed.

CC's hackles rose, not in the least because she felt just as ridiculous for still being upset over something that had happened so long ago but also because Niles thought she shouldn't be upset for the same reason. _What a complicated woman I am_ , CC mused silently.

"The fact that you don't understand why it would still bother me—" CC began.

"I didn't say that—"

"You just don't understand."

"Understand what? Understand _you_? Who could?" Niles asked with more spite than he felt.

CC narrowed her eyes. "People who cared enough to try!"

"You make that remarkably difficult sometimes, do you realize that?"

CC froze and Niles knew instantly that, again, he'd crossed a line and made an enormous mistake. Without another word, and yet long enough to allow Niles to glimpse her sad eyes, CC turned away from him and hurried down the stairs, the echo of her bedroom door slamming reverberating after her.

With an irritated sigh, Niles picked up her pen and script, following her path down the stairs. He shut the door after him and walked to CC's room, setting the items outside her door. Before the family members downstairs could inquire about the upsurge of noise, Niles walked quickly to his room and shut the door behind him so that he could explore his idiocy in peace.

 _Why_ did he always manage to say the wrong thing to her? Even while Niles acknowledged that there was some truth in his cruel words, he also knew that it meant Miss Babcock was worth the struggle. And yet why was it so difficult for him to tell her that?

He threw himself down on top of his bed and watched his room light up every time lightning struck down. Perhaps some hidden masochism within him knew that CC was too good for him and kept him chasing after her when he knew it was fruitless.

And yet Niles couldn't help but wonder why she still refused to discuss what had happened between them. In fits of utter self-loathing in the past, Niles had thought that perhaps CC was so embarrassed at having slept with a butler that she refused to acknowledge it had ever happened. Niles felt, however, that that would be a rather immature way of looking at his relationship with CC; he knew _something_ was there between them, but he just didn't know what.

Niles did know, however, that if he continued opening his mouth, there would soon be nothing left.

* * *

The next morning, Niles approached Fran before breakfast. The humidity of the rain that had lasted long through the night was already wreaking havoc on Fran's hair, which she barely managed to restrain with the largest hairclip Niles had ever seen.

"Mrs. Sheffield—" Niles began tentatively.

"Happened already, didn't it? She's not coming down for breakfast, is she?" Fran demanded.

"Nothing happened!" Niles retorted defensively. At Fran's _oh yeah?_ glance, Niles sighed and continued, "All right, we sort of had a fight."

"Tell me everything, from what was said to facial expressions," Fran said, sitting at the barstool at the island.

Niles took the better part of ten minutes explaining what had happened and before Fran could work herself into a dither, Niles asked helplessly, "What do I do, Mrs. Sheffield?"

Fran, who had opened her mouth wide to begin berating him, closed it promptly. "What do ya mean?"

"I tried to talk to her last night and that didn't work out," Niles said. "I don't even know what I'd say. I fear…I fear I've ruined everything."

"Niles, let me tell you something," she said, placing a kind hand on his arm. "I've paid more attention to you two in the last couple 'a years than is probably considered 'normal,' but I know when a woman is hurt so much by something that happened that long ago, it means she cares more than she probably realizes."

"But how…"

"We hurt, and get hurt by, the ones we care about," Fran said simply with a sad smile to her friend.

"So you think she cares about me?" Niles asked, and Fran had to suppress a smile at how utterly adorable he was.

"Yes. But Niles, the fact that she's hurting means it won't be easy," said Fran with a slightly worried expression now. "Any woman in pain is difficult but Miss Babcock in pain…" Fran shivered and Niles nodded glumly.

The conversation was cut short by the arrival of the rest of the family, sans Miss Babcock, and Niles set about serving breakfast.

* * *

Later that day, the entire group, CC included, took a walk into town with the purpose of seeing the boardwalk. CC had initially balked, worrying that it was going to be a chintzy affair as most piers were, but had quickly caved after the unattractive and utterly surprising tantrum Fran threw, complete with whines and a few fat tears.

She hung back from the group, watching her brown leather flip-flops flap on the sidewalk that ran along the beach. She wore a royal blue, crinkle-cotton sundress with thin straps and three buttons on the chest. A white cotton cardigan adorned her shoulders, unnecessary in the warm, early summer day though necessary to CC, as she rarely exposed her shoulders and arms during the daylight hours.

Fran sped up slightly and hooked her arm into Niles', pulling him to the front of the group and whispering into his ear, "So what's your plan?"

"My plan?" Niles echoed. "I'm thinking of maybe getting a snack if there are any on the pier—"

"Not _that_ sort of plan," Fran interrupted. She lowered her voice even more and continued, "I meant the _anplay_ for _Issmay_ _Abcockbay_."

"While I commend your use of Pig Latin, Mrs. Sheffield, I don't have any plans," Niles said. "I've found that when I try to plan things, it never works out. So I'll let it develop naturally."

Fran elected not to point out that by letting things develop naturally, Niles had missed out on at least ten years of blissful bickering with the blonde, nor did she mention how disastrous Niles' instincts happened to be of late. She decided to step back and let Niles discover how wrong he was, stepping in only when he asked her advice again.

As CC had feared, the first half of the boardwalk housed games with cheap stuffed animals for a prize with the air of fried food mingled with the crowd. To her delight, however, the second half of the promenade, which jutted out into the ocean, had only benches and lampposts and was, thankfully, almost empty.

While the rest of the family entertained themselves with the cheap thrills of skill games and corndogs, CC headed toward the solitude of the pier. Niles considered following her when an entirely new idea struck him. Eagerly, he took out his wallet and exchanged his $5 for quarters. Fran watched him nervously, as though she wanted to interrupt him as he headed toward the ring toss, but she decided against it and went to cheer on Brighton as he attempted to knock a stack of bottles over instead.

* * *

Two hours later, Niles stalked away from the pier clutching what looked like a ball of bright yellow fur. Were he a man more inclined to stop and think when it came to CC Babcock, he might have realized that he should have taken a few calming breaths before approaching her. As it was, however, Niles felt supremely annoyed as he walked towards her. She stood leaning on her elbows near the end of the pier, where she was entirely alone.

Despite his ire, Niles felt some of it ebb away as he watched the skirt of her dress sway around her legs and her hair shine like a goddess' in the sun.

"Having fun?" Niles asked, stopping a few feet away from her to lean against the wood rails lining the pier.

"It is pretty relaxing," CC admitted. She turned to look at Niles as she registered his huffy tone. "What's got you all riled up?"

"I-I won you this," Niles said, feeling lame as he handed CC the small stuffed chick.

"A chicken?" she asked, taking the cheap toy from him.

In that moment, Niles understood why Fran had pressed so hard for a plan: so that he wouldn't end up in a moment like this, presenting CC with a stuffed toy version of the animal he'd once conned her into imitating. He thought back wistfully to the stuffed frog, cow, or kitten he could have picked. But no. He chose a chicken.

"No, I-I only picked it because…because it had yellow hair and…" Niles faltered, wondering how this woman could turn him from a well-spoken individual into a stammering nutcase. _Evil. She must be evil_ , he thought crazily.

"Fake blonde hair. So you're going with the whole brunette thing instead?" CC asked.

"Well, no, I know now you're a natural blonde," Niles said stupidly. He paused again and seriously considered, for fifteen seconds, simply jumping into the ocean and drowning himself.

CC's eyes widened and her cheeks colored, though Niles could tell it wasn't the pleasant, tingly blush from the previous day.

She stood up fully and began walking past him, slapping the stuffed chick onto his chest.

"No, wait," Niles said, grabbing the animal before it fell and halting her movements. "I was trying to make a nice gesture."

"A nice gesture? With a $2 stuffed chick?" CC asked incredulously.

"It cost me $15 to win it!" Niles exclaimed.

"I realize how difficult it is for you to part with your money—especially since you just spent an entire week's earnings on a stuffed animal not worth 75% of that—but most men accomplish a nice gesture by venturing a little further," CC snapped, resting her left hand on the wood railing. Neither noticed it bend slightly against her weight.

"So sorry I didn't buy you a fancy new collar and leash," Niles said angrily. Was the woman _that_ materialistic?

CC laughed harshly. "No, that isn't something that could be won on a boardwalk, so naturally you wouldn't give it as a gift."

Niles narrowed his eyes. "You can't even appreciate a genuinely nice gesture from—"

"From someone who's never given me one before," CC finished for him. "At least Collin took me to nice places and bought me gorgeous flowers."

Later, Niles would notice the significance of CC comparing Collin's gestures to his own, but as it were, Niles only reacted to what he thought was a slight against his lack of wealth. Laughing cruelly as well, Niles responded, "Yes, he gave you flowers that outlived your relationship."

CC glared at him and pushed off the railing, which wobbled dangerously and emitted a copious amount of chipped wood into the ocean, unnoticed by the squabbling couple. "We only broke up because—"

"I'm sure your grateful nature had nothing to do with it," Niles said faux-sweetly.

CC reached forward and for an instant, Niles thought she was going to strangle him or else slit his throat with her talons, but she yanked the chick from his hands and held it up mockingly. "I'm _so sorry_ that I wasn't eternally grateful for this kind and oh-so-thoughtful gift, which you won with your superior intellect and cunning sleight-of-hand."

"You'd know how talented I am with my hands, Babcock," Niles growled, reaching forward to take the stuffed animal back.

CC danced out of reach, accidentally bumping into the railing, which creaked ominously. "Owed, no doubt, to years of scouring toilets and dirty floors."

"You certainly didn't mind when they were scouring you!" Niles shot back lewdly.

"Oh, you act like I even give it a second thought," CC said, shocked enough by his words that he was able to pluck the chick back from her.

"I'm sure you've given it a second, third, fourth thought…"

" _You're_ the one who keeps bringing it up," CC pointed out, reaching forward and succeeding in getting a hand on the stuffed toy. "Give it back!"

"No, you ungrateful hag, you can't have it," Niles replied as the two began a tug-of-war.

"Give it to me!"

"Oh, see, there you go, bringing it up again," Niles said.

CC shrieked in the way Niles imagined a banshee sounded, and he screwed up his face as though it would help diminish the sound.

"Oh, quit with the bird calls," he said. "Do you want the chicken?"

"Yes!" CC exclaimed, though she could no longer remember why. All she knew was that it was imperative that she win this battle with Niles.

"Fine. Take it." Niles let go while CC was still pulling it mightily towards her, and Niles watched in horror as she stumbled and fell against the railing. The old wood immediately splintered and cracked with a terrifying sound, but it was nothing compared to the scream CC let out as she fell backwards into the ocean, her limbs flailing helplessly.

Niles rushed forward and held his breath for a petrifying ten seconds as the waves continued to sway to shore, unperturbed by the woman who'd just fallen into its depths. He breathed an immense sigh of relief when CC bobbed to the surface, spluttering and pushing her drenched hair away from her face. She swam forward several feet until she could walk, and Niles stood in frozen terror as she emerged slowly from the water, ignoring the worried calls from people on the boardwalk who had seen her descent. Her left hand was clenched around the stuffed chick and her right was balled in a fist that Niles was sure was meant for his face.

Deciding his desire to see if she was ok was greater than the desire to keep his face whole and untarnished, Niles hurried down the pier and met CC right as she reached the sidewalk along the beach. Her mascara was streaking down her cheeks, her hair hung limp and stuck to her face, and the skirt of her dress was attached uncomfortably to her legs.

"Miss Babcock, I am so sorry, it was an accident," Niles said hurriedly before she began to kill him slowly. "Are you all right? It wasn't much of a fall, but did you hurt yourself?" She continued staring at him eerily, finally reaching up and slapping him across the face with the wet stuffed animal. Water splashed into his hair and dripped onto his t-shirt, but Niles felt strangely disappointed in her rebuttal.

CC pushed past him and walked on the sidewalk underneath the boardwalk in the direction of the beach house. Niles stayed where he was and watched her walk, knowing correctly for once that to follow and pester her would be a bad idea. He walked miserably up the steps onto the boardwalk, hearing with a sinking feeling the clatter of Fran's heels on the old wood.

"Niles," Fran said patiently, slinging her arm over her friend's shoulder and speaking in a voice she'd use on a tantrum-throwing toddler, "do you see now why I suggested you have a plan? Throwing Miss Babcock into the ocean was an effective way to get her attention, yes, but not a good way to win her affection."

"I didn't throw her into the ocean, and I _had_ a plan!" Niles exclaimed, laying his arms out in front of him as though in supplication. "I won her a stuffed animal and I tried to give it to her."

"Well…that's actually sort of cute," Fran said, removing her arm from his shoulders and turning to face him. "How'd ya get from there to throwing her into the ocean?"

Niles sighed, frustrated, and gave her the Cliff's Notes version of their fight.

Fran stared at him, becoming slightly more convinced that she wouldn't be able to help him win over Miss Babcock. "Eh…Niles…what do you mean when you say you 'had her imitate a chicken once'?"

"It's…a long story," Niles said, a small smile cracking his face in spite of himself. "Just a harmless prank I pulled once."

"Eh heh," Fran said nasally, not quite believing him. "Well, anyway, I think you should maybe leave her alone for a while, especially since you threw her in the ocean."

"I didn't throw her into the ocean!" Niles shouted, causing several pigeons to fly away at the sudden noise.


	5. Chapter 5

V.

"Miss Babcock!" Fran called out, knocking twice and entering her room without invitation.

CC sat with her back propped by many pillows on her bed, a pile of scripts surrounding her legs. "Good morning, Nanny Fine."

"I brought you some breakfast," Fran said, placing the full plate on a closed script. "Why don'tcha come and join us? It's vacation, you shouldn't be working."

CC rubbed the bridge of her nose, causing her glasses to wiggle back and forth. "Reading scripts helps me relax."

"Uh, Miss Babcock, the _ocean_ is right outside our door. And I promise no one will throw you in this time!" Fran laughed gleefully, quickly subsiding at the look on CC's face.

"Thank you for the breakfast, Nanny Fine," CC said. The edge in her tone would have convinced anyone else to leave the room as quickly as possible, but Fran decided to ignore it and perched on the wooden chair at the desk in the corner.

"No problem. Most important meal of the day!" Fran sang out. She looked curiously about what was clearly the master bedroom, with the connecting bathroom and the impressive size. She paused when she noticed the stuffed chick, looking a little worse for wear, propped against the lamp on the bedside table.

CC noticed none of this, as she was busy enjoying the French toast Fran had brought for her. Spearing a fresh strawberry on the end of her fork, CC looked over at Fran, who had thankfully already looked away from the toy. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Actually, yes," Fran responded, thinking on her feet. She hadn't intended to talk to CC about anything, really, but the sight of Niles' gift not residing in the trash can or torn to shreds was a promising sign. "I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Do you ever think about sleeping with Niles?"

CC started choking on a bite of her toast, the question catching her completely off-guard. For a woman who had thoroughly ignored a topic for two years, Fran certainly didn't waste time getting back onto it.

"Excuse me?" the socialite asked.

"It's not a confusing question, Miss Babcock," Fran replied lightly. "I just wondered if _you_ ever wondered about it."

"Why would I do that? He's a servant."

"I was under the impression that that only made it better for those being _served_ ," Fran remarked, waggling her eyebrows.

"I want no part of this discussion," CC said.

"I'm only wondering because, well, that's what we do, isn't it? We fantasize about the guys we've slept with before. And you can't deny that you told me it was good," Fran told her, pointing a finger at CC.

"There's no reason I'd fantasize about him."

"Well, you did just get out of a relationship and all…"

"What?" CC asked, genuinely confused.

Fran looked back at her, just as confused. "What? With Collin."

"Oh. I forgot," CC said simply, eating another strawberry wedge.

Fran stared at CC with a peculiar look on her face. "Ya broke up with him, what, two weeks ago? And you already forgot you were dating?"

CC shrugged. "Not very memorable, I guess."

"But you seemed angry that it was over."

Again, CC shrugged her shoulders. "Just that he'd beaten me to the punch. I'd rather be the one ending things."

"So your relationship meant a lot to you, in other words," Fran remarked sarcastically.

"Like you've never been with someone just because being with him was better than being alone?" CC asked in disbelief; she'd seen the nanny do it dozens of times while waiting around for Maxwell.

"Is that what it was with Niles?" Fran asked probingly.

"What?"

"Why do ya keep actin' like you can't hear me?" Fran asked. "Soft-spoken, I'm not. Was. That. What. It. Was. With. Niles?"

CC looked up from her quickly disappearing French toast and stared at the former nanny, showing no sign of answering the question.

"Well, it seems like neither of you can figure out why it happened," Fran said. "So it makes sense to assume that you just do what some adults who know each other well do: ya get together when you're kind of lonely and then go your separate ways."

Fran was egging her on, but as the woman from Flushing was an expert at getting information out of people, she showed no sign that she was doing so. She merely crossed her legs and began inspecting her nails in a rather bored fashion, making sure she could keep an eye on CC out of the periphery of her vision.

"No, that wasn't what it was," CC said, and Fran was probably the first person in history to be thrilled that CC Babcock sounded angry.

"Well, then, what was it?" Fran asked, finally looking away from her perfectly manicured nails.

"I…don't know," the socialite finished lamely.

"Well, if you don't know what it was, how do you know it wasn't that?" Fran countered.

CC looked momentarily confused before her countenance changed entirely. "Because it wasn't, ok? He wasn't just some…some notch in my bedpost, even-even though I might have been to him…" CC trailed off, staring into the small pool of syrup left on her plate, looking entirely lost.

"No, Miss Babcock, that wasn't it," Fran said quickly, compassion leaking from her voice like a broken faucet.

"Nanny Fine, do me a favor," CC said suddenly, picking up her plate and climbing off of her bed. "When you talk to him, because I know you will, you always do, tell him to stop feeling so guilty, ok? Then everything can go back to normal."

* * *

"Then she said, 'Tell him to stop feeling guilty so everything can go back to normal'," Fran told Niles as the two friends lounged in the sun next to the pool that afternoon.

"Stop feeling guilty? I don't feel guilty."

Fran pulled up her sunglasses so she could shoot Niles an _oy, come on_ look.

"All right, I feel guilty," Niles admitted, watching as Maxwell and Brighton played pool basketball.

"Ya know, Niles, no one understands guilt better than a 29-year-old Jewish woman with an overbearing mother," Fran said, pivoting slightly in her lounge chair to ensure that she was getting the full effects of the sun. "But in this case, your guilt is completely useless. It's not doing either of you any good."

"I rather think I deserve it."

"Oy, would ya quit beating yourself up already?" Fran exclaimed. "Niles, you're a sweetie, I love ya, but you don't need to beat yourself up over what happened. It was two years ago. It's _ova_."

"Mrs. Sheffield, I don't wish to forget—" Niles began.

"First off, she'll never let you forget," Fran told him flat-out. "Second, you'll always know that what you did wasn't really what you should've done. You're a good guy. You just had a…momentary lap in judgment."

"It's 'lapse,' Mrs. Sheffield."

"Ya sure? I think it's lap."

"Fairly certain."

"Whateva. Look, your guilt is making you think you need some grand gesture. And while us women appreciate them, your idea of 'grand' seems to be tossing women into large bodies of water. Now, to each his own, not here to judge, but I don't think that'll work with Miss Babcock," Fran said wisely. Niles sighed and elected not to argue. "My point is, just be yourself. She's gonna be skittles around you—"

"Skittish, Mrs. Sheffield."

"Pretty sure it's skittles, Niles," Fran replied without missing a beat. "Anyhoo, she'll be like that around you because—"

"Because she doesn't trust me."

"Not entirely, no," said Fran softly. "But she can. You just need to prove to her she can."

"But I don't know how," Niles said, frustrated.

"You know her better than I do. You know how she ticks."

"That just makes me want to get her a flea collar."

"There's no need to insult her when she can't hear it," Fran said with a sigh.

Niles sat back against the lounge chair and closed his eyes against the bright sun. He wasn't sure why he suddenly yearned to make things right between them again. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to in Manhattan, but he did have to admit that the change of scenery certainly helped. Being back in the place where it had all happened made it easier to change their roles. There certainly was something almost magical about being back near the ocean…

Niles sat up suddenly, his shadow falling over Fran, who squawked in protest. He turned to his friend with an impish grin before leaving the deck, calling back to her that he finally had a plan.


	6. Chapter 6

VI.

CC floated peacefully on the inner tube she'd stolen from Fran, cracking open an eye every once in a while to ensure she didn't float too far from the shore. The waves collided with one another, creating an intoxicating symphony. The wind carried the salty spray and a distinctly summery scent to CC's nostrils, which were currently exhaling a relaxed sigh.

As much as CC claimed that script reading relaxed her, it had _nothing_ on floating along with the ebb and flow of the ocean's natural rhythm. In any case, it seemed such a shame to take away Grace's favorite new hobby; CC made a mental note to discuss the possibility of hiring her as an intern before her brain firmly locked the "work" filing cabinet in CC's brain, forcing her to focus on the delicious sounds surrounding her.

Brushing the tips of her fingers against the sea, CC mused that she could spend the remainder of her life floating on the ocean, entirely alone and never once lonely.

The sun kissed her fair skin, forming patches of pink on her cheeks that makeup creators had spent decades attempting to perfect. CC knew she couldn't spend much longer in the sun without regretting it the next day but at the same time, she was helpless against its alluring pull.

A particularly strong wave caused a tickling dip in CC's stomach as she coasted closer to the shoreline, and the noise the swell generated caused CC to not hear the person splashing toward her at first. When she heard the unmistakable sound of feet crashing into the surf, she craned her neck off the rubber support of the tube and shielded her eyes with one hand.

 _Of course_ , she thought exasperatedly as the butler headed in her direction. She allowed herself a moment to watch as the water glistened on his bare, strong torso before resting her head once more and deciding to ignore him.

As usual, Niles made this impossible for her to do when he stopped a foot away from her, yanked the inner tube out from under her, and watched as she tumbled into the swaying water.

"What are you _doing_?" CC exclaimed angrily, rubbing the salt water out of her eyes.

"What I _should_ have done years ago," Niles replied, tossing the hot pink tube carelessly away. He took another step toward her, slung an arm firmly around her waist, and pulled her against him. Shock erupted all over her face, and Niles granted her a few moments to decline what he didn't need to verbally request. He somehow heard the helpless noise she made in the back of her throat over the roar of the sea, and he took that as confirmation.

Tilting her back slightly, using the hold he had on her back as leverage, Niles crashed his lips upon her own with an intense force that could make the mighty waves cower away meekly. He supported her head with his other hand, holding it lovingly as one might a prize gem. It had been almost two years since any sort of physical contact between the two, though they read each other's moves and planned their own in such perfect harmony that they could have fooled anyone into thinking they'd been doing this all along.

CC felt herself being swept away, the sturdy touch of Niles contrasting deliciously with the gentle lap of the ocean on her skin. The kiss hadn't started as carefully as last time, but they were quickly heading toward the passion they'd…last time…last time…

CC dug her nails into his shoulders and, ignoring the nearly animalistic growl that issued forth from him, abruptly ended the kiss.

"What are you doing?" CC repeated, attempting to sound angry but only sounded winded as she kept panting.

Niles, breathing heavily himself, smirked at her. "Still can't figure it out?"

"Answer me."

"Well, words weren't working, and nice gestures weren't working, so I figured…this usually did," Niles said, pointing from her to him.

"Words and nice gestures? You mean when you told me I make it difficult for people to care about me and threw me into the ocean?"

"I didn't throw you into the ocean!" Niles shouted. "Don't you think I'd take credit for it if I had?" Niles' shoulders slumped; in the three minutes it had taken him to leave Fran by the pool and splash into the ocean after Babcock, Niles hadn't anticipated him shouting at her. "And really, Babcock, you know you're a difficult woman. You pride yourself on it. You just don't want to face the fact that I'm the only one who realizes it's because you're worth it."

CC stared at him, unwilling to let her guard down or to believe what he was saying. "Ok, keep going."

"Excuse me?"

"The punch line. I'm waiting for it. There's always a punch line."

Niles looked back at her and slowly began to realize the entirety of their problems. "So you think that everything I do has a punch line?"

"As it relates to me, yes," CC said, more comfortable now that he'd stopped saying kind things. "You give me a stuffed animal, and then you push me off the pier. You sleep with me, and then you leave. There's a cycle. It's how we operate. It's how we've always operated."

"Woman, you'll be the death of me," Niles said, pressing a frustrated hand against his eyes. "I told you two years ago why I left."

"And two years later, I still don't accept it," CC replied angrily. "Scared, I get. But not wanting to ruin something and effectively ruining it two seconds later, I don't."

"Don't pretend like you professed your undying love for me and I dashed off five seconds later. I had no idea how you felt. And in that moment, yes, I was worried about ruining the strange relationship we'd managed to form."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Don't pretend like I've had any control over this _strange relationship_. You dictated the terms right after you met me, insulting me after my first day of work with Maxwell, and you've changed them at your will from then on."

"So you're the helpless puppet, subjected to any person's random whim? That's not the woman I…" Niles cleared his throat. "…know. That's not you."

"That's how I am with _you_ , and that's why whatever we have is so damn frustrating!" CC exclaimed. "Three years ago, you, me, whiskey. I called you bellboy, you called me brunette. Do you remember what happened next?"

"I remember it well."

"And do you recall what happened the next day?" CC waited a few moments and scoffed when Niles shook his head. "Because nothing happened. I showed up and you insulted me even before I stepped in the door, calling out that a chicken had escaped from the coop and, oh, the eggs you were surely missing out on."

"That's just one time—" Niles began, but he quickly broke off. He saw where CC was going and, uncomfortably enough, he saw that she was entirely correct. She never would have taken the first step, not willing to risk the vulnerability that required it, and so she'd silently relied on Niles throughout the years to do it for her. How he could have possibly missed that…

"So I'm sure you'll remember," CC continued, her voice stronger than she felt, "what happened the next day after we'd…after that night. You ignored me. So there. I had it. The new rules were in order and I had to follow them."

"I'd felt guilty and had, at that point, already regretted my decision a hundredfold," Niles said, desperate to explain himself.

She held up a hand and, though her face held no anger, it was the sadness in her eyes that caused Niles to shut his mouth. "Save it. I've heard this all before."

Without waiting for him to reply, she swam out several yards to retrieve Fran's inner tube and headed back to shore. Niles watched and, after admiring the way her suit hugged her body as she emerged from the water, he followed her.

"What I don't get," Niles said slightly breathlessly, catching up to CC as she reached her pile of things on the beach, "is how you expect me to make the next move, and whenever I try, you resist."

"You know why."

"No, Babcock, I don't," Niles replied. "Not this time."

"I don't trust you, Niles," CC said quietly, clutching her beach towel against herself as a shield. "I explained that before."

"You don't trust many people, so I don't see the trouble," Niles retorted.

CC stopped wringing the salt water out of her hair and stared at him. "I used to."

"What?"

"I used to trust you." She wrapped the large, colorful beach towel around her shoulders for protection against the breeze and whatever else loomed on her horizon. She never could tell with him. "Before, before all of this. Don't even ask me why because I can't explain it. I didn't even know I'd trusted you until I realized I couldn't."

He stood in front of her with the sun warming his shoulders and yet he'd never felt colder inside. He feared that if he opened his mouth, he'd say the wrong thing and so decided to let her continue talking.

"You were always there, and even though you were a grouchy, mean, horrible person, I still…I don't know. I trusted you," she said simply. She cleared her throat and continued in a rougher tone, "And like I said, don't ask me to explain it because it makes no sense. You were the one person who probably would have killed me given the chance—you tried often enough to break my bones—but I still never figured you to be someone who'd really hurt me."

As she explained, Niles felt his heart swell with feeling for this gorgeous, complicated creature who'd unwittingly given her fragile heart to him. He thought briefly of how fond he was of her in these moments, when she revealed how vulnerable she was, and Niles loved her all the more for how unaware she was of the vibrant heart she tried so hard to hide.

In a sudden burst of inspiration, Niles reached forward and grasped her hand. "Did you ever wonder why I said I'd missed you that night?"

The softness of his voice and the twinkle in his eyes caught her off guard; recovering quickly, she slipped her hand from his and responded bluntly, "Yes."

Niles grinned at her, but it was unlike any he'd given her before: it was wicked, of course, but in a kind, playful way, and there was a gentleness in the corners of his mouth that she had failed to notice in the past several years. Perhaps it was his eyes and the way he made no effort to hide the way they slid over her face and memorized the depth in her blue eyes.

Whatever it was, CC allowed him to hold her hand once more.

"It was this that I'd missed," Niles said, squeezing her hand. Confusion showed on her face, so Niles elaborated: "I missed this side of you. You play such a tough woman all the time, and you let it control the rest of your life too. Don't get me wrong; I love that about you, your strength and ability to stand up for yourself. But when we're close, and you're _you_ , in your entirety…I feel like then I know all of you. I got a glimpse of it three years ago, and other times throughout the years, but that night in the ocean, when we kissed…I saw you again, and I realized how much I missed you."

It took CC several minutes to absorb all of what he'd said, and even after she had, she felt utterly uncomfortable. People seldom took the time to say such meaningful things to her, and if she really wracked her brain, no man had ever said something so poignant before.

Niles stood quite still, sensing he was on the precipice of something and knowing that a wrong move could send him tumbling into the CC-less abyss he'd occupied for the past ten years. And yet he couldn't help noticing that CC hadn't tugged her hand from his…

CC watched as he gave her time to absorb his words, as he waited patiently for her to come to terms with the full meaning of what he was saying to her. She stood across from Niles and looked at him, the man who had always unquestionably been there for her, tolerated her mindless flirtations with Maxwell and grudgingly accepted her various doomed romances throughout the years, almost as though he knew it would be her and him, in the end. Slowly she realized that his patience in the past, especially the last two years, was a testament to his loyalty to her and his willingness to wait, as no one else had ever done for her. However silently he'd done it, however much he'd insulted her along the way, Niles had allowed CC to find her own way to him, and that had made all the difference.

And CC suddenly knew, as though she'd known it all along, that she could trust him.

Niles' heartbeat picked up as he watched her slight grimace of discomfort turn into a dazzling beam, directed straight to him.

Stepping closer to her, Niles slid his arm under the towel still draped over her shoulders and took his time sliding his arm around her waist. He smiled at her sweetly, using his other hand to draw her head closer to his.

Anticipating a kiss, CC felt slightly disappointed when his lips hovered near her ear.

"I'm so sorry I hurt you," he whispered against her ear. He felt her shake her head and pulling back slightly, Niles knew she wasn't saying "no" but was rather pushing away his apology as unnecessary.

Framing his face in both hands, CC took a steadying breath, looked him square in the eye, and responded softly, "You shouldn't have to miss me anymore."

His other hand snaked under the towel to rest on her bare shoulder blade, warming her in a way the towel would never have. "And you should trust me."

Pressing her cheek to his in an effort to lean closer to his ear, moving her left hand to rest carefully on his chest, CC whispered back, "I do."

He wanted more than anything to kiss her right then, though he forced himself not to. Electing to let her make the next move, as she seldom got to do, Niles simply smiled at her and watched as she slowly realized what he was allowing to her do.

As the ocean breeze swirled in her hair, drying it slowly, CC leaned into him once more and resumed the kiss she'd broken off earlier. She felt him respond and the increased emotion between them created a pulsating passion that made CC fall against him as her knees nearly gave out.

"Niles!" Maxwell's voice rang out, for he could not see the entwined couple from his vantage point near the swimming pool.

His shoulders sagging, Niles ended the kiss but kept his face pressed against CC's, finally giving in to the magnetic force that radiated from her to him.

"Damn," he muttered, his breath fanning across her cheek. "Yes, sir?" Niles called back, ultimately pulling away from CC lest he shout in her ear.

"We're getting rather hungry, old man…what are the dinner plans? And have you seen CC?"

"Not as much of her as I'd like," Niles growled in a low tone, eliciting an enticing chuckle from her throat.

"Butler duty awaits," she said enigmatically, grabbing her beach bag, flip-flops, and inner tube and hurrying away from him toward Maxwell's voice.

Never before had Niles loathed his occupation as much as he did right then, knowing that he just lost out on his beach fantasy with Babcock. Pressing his palms against the side pockets of his swim trunks so that they'd drain of any remaining ocean water, Niles ambled slowly up the beach toward the deck, wondering frustratedly when he'd finally get the chance to be alone with her.


	7. Chapter 7

VII.

Fran harrumphed once more at the platter of sandwiches set before her, wistfully remembering the pasta carbonara Niles had prepared the night before.

 _Two slices of bread with turkey and cheese_ , she thought glumly. _Even I could have made that for dinner. What's the fun in having a butler?_

"Eh, Niles," Fran said cautiously, unable to decipher the look upon his face, "you wouldn't happen to have anything else prepared? Like a twice-baked potato and a medium-rare steak for a side?"

She looked over at her husband, who didn't appear to mind the rather bland dinner, and then to her son, who had already devoured two sandwiches and was reaching for a third. Clearly they wouldn't support her. She knew Grace would never say anything and moved her gaze swiftly to Miss Babcock, who had only managed to pull the crust off of her sandwich and pluck absentmindedly at the bit of turkey poking out.

Assuming that Niles' latest attempt to court the socialite had blown up in his face, Fran decided to let the lame dinner slide and reached forward to grab a sandwich.

Her worst fears appeared to be confirmed when Niles announced at 8:30, shortly through _The Way We Were_ , that he was going to bed and CC remained motionless, staring unblinkingly at the television screen. Fran considered following him until Robert Redford walked back into the scene and commanded all of her attention.

* * *

Hours later, everyone bid each other goodnight after Fran, tears flowing down her face, turned off the television set. Max slid his arm around his wife and helped her up the stairs as Grace waved to CC and told her excitedly that she was almost done with her last script. CC smiled at the young woman, so like Sara, and headed up the other staircase closest to her room. Grinning privately to herself, CC slipped into her room and shut the door behind her.

Niles lay in his bed, his sheets revealing his bare chest but obscuring his boxer-clad legs. He felt distinctly forlorn; he hadn't quite expected CC to jump up and declare that she'd be joining him, but he hadn't expected to lay in bed alone for the past two hours. He'd been so eager to discover what CC would do, and to continue their encounter on the beach, that he'd foolishly told everyone that he was going to sleep when sleep was the last thing he felt like doing.

When he heard the Sheffields tell each other goodnight and felt doors close in the hallway, he was half-tempted to climb out of bed and knock on CC's door, but something held him back. He felt there was something to this 'let her come to him' business, and he knew he was less likely to mess up if she did so.

To his left, he heard Brighton turn on the portable stereo he'd brought with him and knew that the teenager wouldn't sleep for hours. Yawning widely, Niles rubbed his face vigorously and never heard his door quietly open or shut. It wasn't until the mattress shifted and Niles felt someone rearing above him that he realized he wasn't alone.

The clouds obscuring the sky parted momentarily, allowing a chink of silvery moonlight to shine through his window and illuminate CC Babcock perched on the side of Niles' bed in a fetching, daringly short black silk negligee.

"Babcock," Niles greeted shortly, his clipped tone belying his racing heart.

"I've been thinking," she said matter-of-factly while she slid over him and straddled his hips. She ignored the stirring she felt beneath her.

"That's new," Niles remarked.

CC deliberately misunderstood him and glanced down at her lacy scrap of clothing. "Oh, this? I've had this for years," she remarked casually, plucking at the material over her torso and causing it to raise a couple of inches up her thigh. Niles bit his lip to stop himself making any sound.

"Anyhow, I was thinking about the last time we were…together."

"Oh?" was all Niles could muster, for the air-conditioned room combined with CC's lack of substantial clothing was doing the most intriguing things to her body.

"And I just don't see the point of it happening again."

Niles pulled his eyes away from her chest to look into her eyes, sparkling even in the poorly lit room. He might have been extremely startled by this new proclamation had she not snuck into his bedroom wearing something that looked like it came straight from Fran's closet.

"And why not?" he asked, watching as the errant rays of moonlight brought out the platinum highlights in her hair, wavy from the water. She looked like some sort of goddess, plucked straight from his dreams.

"Well, it was good, last time, right? _Good_ ," CC repeated, her voice slightly purring on the last word. Niles gulped. "I mean, it was hot, spontaneous, frantic, right?" Niles forgot how to nod or form words and merely watched her. She took his silence for assertion and continued, leaning forward slightly to allow him a better view. "And I just don't know if you could compete with the passion we had last time."

Somehow, the challenge in her words brought him back to his rightful, albeit hazy, senses. "Admittedly, Babcock, it would be difficult to be passionate around you again."

"Are you sure about that?" CC asked, pressing her hips firmly onto his and feeling his arousal straining against his boxers. Hell, she was turning herself on at this point.

"No question," Niles affirmed, feeling his voice turn husky. "I just don't know whether you'd be able to keep up."

A laugh bubbled from her chest and Niles twitched against her thigh. "I don't think my endurance would be the issue."

"Are _you_ sure about that?" Niles repeated her own words back to her, sliding his hands over her waist and halting teasingly near her chest. He felt her heart pounding beneath his palms and wondered how much longer they could play this current game. He sat up abruptly, leaning against his pillows and holding CC steady on his lap. He leaned forward and grazed her neck with his lips, saying softly, "I seem to remember you didn't last long before, so I'd be careful about throwing around words like 'endurance'."

"Maybe I just wanted to get it over with quickly," CC retorted steadily, her eyes screwed up against Niles' onslaught. This time it was his chuckle against her throat that caused an entirely pleasant tingle in her nether region.

"Oh, come on, brunette," Niles grumbled. "I remember you gasping and thrashing and moaning." Niles felt her jaw clench as he placed light kisses on it, knowing she was fighting the same feeling that was rising rapidly in Niles.

CC brought out the big guns, so to speak, and began to fight back: She reached around him, raking her nails down his back and pressing her breasts against his chest. Niles automatically clenched his hands, which had slowly been inching to her hips, where the hem of her negligee was pooling.

"I remember it differently," CC said seductively in his ear before she lightly nibbled on his earlobe.

"What do you remember?" Niles asked, sliding his hands under the skirt of her negligee and discovering that she wasn't wearing any underwear. She grinned wickedly at his subsequent groan.

"I remember you groaning—much like you just did—and burrowing into me, over and over, until you—" CC never got to finish explaining what Niles had done, for unable to continue, Niles had slid two fingers into her and CC's sentence ended in a sudden gasp.

"Now I don't know if we can compete with the memory of last time," Niles said surprisingly calmly into her ear as he slid his hand tantalizingly over her apex, "but I'm willing to give you a new memory you won't forget."

Experiencing severe sensory overload, CC barely comprehended his words before he lightly pushed her onto her back, her head nearly dangling over the foot of the bed, and replaced his hand with his tongue.

Time became a meaningless thing as CC fully experienced what Niles did to her. The physical sensations were matched perfectly with the emotions he evoked in her, creating an entirely new, thrilling situation. Just as she neared the edge, Niles pulled away and trailed kisses up her body, stopping when he reached her neck. He propped himself up on his left elbow, smiling as he watched her lungs gasp in air.

He reached his right arm forward and slid the strap of the negligee off of her shoulder, following with the other strap until he was able to slide it down to gather around her hips.

"One of us is quite overdressed," he murmured.

"I agree," she said breathlessly, reaching forward and yanking his boxers off, freeing him. She darted out a hand and caught him, sliding her nimble fingers up and down, slowly, torturously.

His eyes closed reluctantly, as the powerful sensations he felt overruled his desire to watch her in the dim moonlight now streaming into his room. Keeping one hand wrapped around him, CC straddled him once more and used her free hand to pull her silk gown over her head. Eager to feel him intimately again, CC inched up his hips and guided him to her center. Popping his eyes open long enough to see him sink into her, Niles closed them once more and gripped CC's hips as she moved up and down.

As she angled her body back and felt herself closing in on the exhilarating finish, she opened her eyes at the same time he did and they locked onto each other, each wearing twin grins of wickedness and satisfaction. Niles moved his hand from her hip to grasp hers, their fingers interlocking in front of them and representing what was still too early to put into words.

Then, with an extra-impish grin, Niles shifted his hips and watched as his beloved lover tumbled over the edge with him soon to follow.

* * *

"You know, honey, we should talk about the effort Niles is putting into our meals," Fran said to her husband seriously as they entered the kitchen the following morning to find a box of cereal sitting atop the counter with six bowls surrounding it.

Maxwell frowned as he picked up the box of cereal and eyed the rabbit grinning toothily at him. "Well, darling, there's nothing wrong with cereal for breakfast," Max said fairly.

"Even _I_ could have done this," Fran grumbled again. Fran tried to cut her friend some slack, as her ever-present Jewish guilt reminded her that he was probably just as lovesick as she used to be.

Just as she made a mental note to give Niles advice about how to move on, her eyes bulged out of their sockets as CC scampered into the kitchen with her light, gray cotton robe dangling off of one shoulder, revealing a thin, delicate strap of black silk beneath it. Her hair was pulled into a messy, absentminded ponytail and she had the distinct look of someone who hadn't gotten enough sleep and wasn't bothered by it in the least.

"Good morning, Nanny Fine!" CC said brightly, grabbing the box that Max had left and pouring herself a hearty bowl of the multicolored cereal. Splashing some milk into it, CC smiled at Fran and walked past her to sit at the table with Max.

The look of shock had barely dissipated off of her face when Niles entered the kitchen and reached around Fran to grab a bowl. The usually dapper butler wore, from what Fran could decipher, only his robe and boxers, but it was the smile on his face that made it seem like he was wearing the finest tux and tails.

Fran couldn't recall ever seeing him happier, and it was with a mischievous grin that she sidled closer to her friend and said in an undertone, "I was planning to give you some tips about how to get over Miss Babcock…but it looks like you already got under her."

As he reached into the drawer to grab a spoon, Niles winked at his friend and replied, "Right you are, Mrs. Sheffield." He sauntered into the dining area and brazenly sat next to CC, who immediately reached over and placed a hand on his thigh.

Fran reached the table with her own bowl of cereal and sat down just in time to see Maxwell spluttering, trying to make sense of what just happened.

Grace trotted into the kitchen next, smiling when she saw the box of cereal. She set a heavy manuscript on the counter while she poured herself a bowl, tucking the manuscript under her arm as she carried the bowl to the table to join the four adults. Everyone exchanged "Good morning's" with the young girl, Maxwell glancing curiously at the script Grace set on the table.

"What's that, sweetheart?" he asked, sliding his spoon against the edge of the bowl to get rid of the milk drip.

Grace smiled and looked from her father to his business partner as she answered, "Well, I finished reading the scripts, and this was my favorite one."

CC leaned forward to read the title, affording Niles the opportunity to rest his hand on the small of her back. Grace noticed this and bit back an even wider smile.

"That's an interesting choice," CC remarked, reaching out and flipping through the script, seeing Grace's notes on the margins. "Why that one?"

Maxwell glanced from his daughter, preening with pride at the script, to his butler, who was gently rubbing his business partner's back. At a complete loss, he looked over at his wife, who smiled consolingly at him but offered no explanation.

"Well," Grace began, "at first, the love story seemed too untraditional and it was almost strange to see it develop. But there was a point, I marked it in there, where it all sort of comes together and makes so much sense that you can't believe you didn't see it before…I think an audience could really respond to that."

CC leaned back, the grin on her face caused as much by Grace's astute analysis as Niles silently reaching over to grab her hand under the table. "We should look into producing that one, then," CC said.

"I'm sorry, I just don't understand," Max said, unable to contain his confusion any longer.

His wife and his daughter looked over at him, sharing twin grins, and replied simultaneously, "You will."

_fin_


End file.
